This year, I’ve started appreciating leaves. When I hike, when I garden, when I visit botanical gardens, I typically look for the flowers. My husband, who appreciates the subtler things in life, loves the foliage. Our garden is a riot of flowers flowers because I’m the one who planted it. But what this means, I’m learning, is that when the flowers fade, and the flowery plants don’t really have anything else going for them, that if there are no foundation foliage plants, the garden looks like crap.

Gardening is a constant learning process. I don’t know that I’ll ever get it right. But each year I can try to get it righter.

During the summer, I was inspired by the leaves of a ridiculously cool houseplant my husband bought. I have never been so attached to a houseplant. Every day, I look at it and I love it. I mean, look at this!

How cool is that? Here it is in color:

This plant got me into leaves. I went on an early summer walk and photographed leaves instead of flowers. I started a leaves tag on my photo blog. On a recent hike through the woods, in early September when all the flowers were spent, I started looking for hint-of-fall leaves. I shot a few photos. I did the same recently in my garden as I mourned how raggedy the flower beds look this time of year.

So now I’m on a foliage kick. And not just because of fall! I like green leaves too. Though fall is a pretty great time for the gift of foliage.